St. Louis Post-Dispatch from St. Louis, Missouri • Page 38

38 ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1998 series looks in on teens at camp Disney documentary 7T i -it 1 a i 1 I "We told the camp we would never tell the campers to do something, never give them any kind of direction or tell them to do something again," Ross said. "If we missed something, we missed it." There was direction, though: Viewing everything through tiny hand-held monitors from various spots away from the action were the show's directors a male for the boys and a female for the girls who, in typical TV procedure, communicated with the camera operators via headsets so they could give them guidance without interfering or being overheard. Although a TV camera's presence inevitably influences reality to some extent, the amazing thing about "Bug Juice" is the candor of the campers and how oblivious they seemingly are to the lens so often shadowing them. "Even though these kids are articulate, worldly and in many ways mature, beneath it all they were regular kids with regular concerns," said Ross.

"And that was very refreshing." So we learn that Asa, 12, and Malik, 13, feel like outsiders because they're younger than the others. We see Caitlin, 15, get so upset about the planning of a campfire event that she makes an emotional phone call to her mother and pleads to come home. And we see the eternal boy-girl thing: 14-year-old Kisha and 13-year-old Jenny, her braces framed by painted crimson lips, clashing over that irresistible baldy, Hassan, 14. And 14-year-olds Sarai and Stephanie boy crazy, having it out over that handsome hunk, Connor, 14, only to have an emotional rapprochement by themselves and end their rivalry with a teary embrace. By Howard Rosenberg 998, Los AngelesTimes Just think of it: Campfires, swimming, canoeing, sailing, water skiing, archery, Frisbee, arts and crafts and teen-agers who aren't sophisticates invented by Holly-l( wood TV writers.

"fou'll find this bracing realism on the 18-part "Bug Juice," a refreshingly natural documentary series about summer campers airing Saturdays on the Disney Channel. Observing their unrehearsed, unscripted routine is the fun. Ranging in age mostly from 13 to 15, the youths here sometimes flirt, sometimes bicker, sometimes are silly, sometimes are mature. Like typical teens, they tend toward the mercurial, inflating small dilemmas into throbbing crises, then just awiftly resolving them on their own. In other words, they co-exist, have fun and learn about themselves away from home while acting their ages.

Has co-creator Douglas Ross, himself a 36-year-old former summer camper, seen such teens on TV previously? "I don't think I have," Ross said. "When I see kids portrayed on television, they are very cartoonish playing out the stereotypes that adults think they are." Meet the exceptions, and not by chance. Last summer, Ross and co-creator J. Rupert Thompson de-. cloyed three camera crews and Voiiier production staff at 75-year-old Camp Waziyatah, 150 acres of rustic fun in Waterford, Maine, owned by a friend of Thompson's and encompassing a blue lake as tranquil and picturesque as the one in the deadly "Friday the 13th" films.

This time, however, the only Ja- The Disney Channel looks at real life in "Bug Juice," an 18-part documentary series about summer campers. It was produced at Camp Waziyatah in Waterford, Maine. son in sight is a lanky 15-year-old camper from New York who, unlike the loopy, indestructible killer of that name in the movies, wears no hockey mask and actually speaks, saying he prefers camp to home because "you can be goofy and be yourself and things like that." It takes preparation to capture "things like that" on videotape, however. So the show's commanders revamped the camp's lighting and electrical circuits, added telephone and fax lines, hired family therapists to instruct the crews on what to expect from the kids and planned meticulously. Then for 56 days, they shot 1,000 hours of tape chronicling the daily experiences and personal interactions of nine boy and nine girl campers whose If three having their $4,000 tuition paid on scholarship, were coming to camp anyway.

Ross says that the only conscious shaping of reality he and his colleagues did was slight, joining with Waziyatah owners in choosing which campers would occupy the two cabins one per gender. These youths would become the focus of "Bug Juice." The series affirms just how entertaining the routine of someone else's life can be when skillfully edited into a narrative. This one consists of dialogue among the campers and their counselors, who sometimes wore mikes, interspersed with occasional brief interviews with them to fill in some gaps. The kids always had the option of saying no to the camera. Beals.

"I don't realize I'm walking into a hotbed." But Ray is in for a surprise himself Justine is as feisty as Sister Mo ever was. She's an academic type, not a member of the clergy, and her allegiances are not always clear. In fact, by the end of tonight's episode Beals' character is playing peacemaker between the two warring priests The episode airs in the new time slot of 8 p.m. Saturdays. "We wanted a female character who-could create, challenges for Ray, who could deal with him, both intellectually and emotionally, on a peer level," said Nothing Sacred" i cocreator David Manson.

"One of the things we're trying to create are possible adversarial relationships for Ray so that he's not al-: ways at war only with himself." Manson described Justine as being, "independent and "someone who has a strong sense 7 trJ ll -will i 1 jj, Bug Juice When: 7:30 p.m. Saturdays Where: The Disney Channel backgrounds ranged from upscale Westport, to Brooklyn's inner city. The rewarding result is "Bug Juice" the title is a nickname for the soft drink served campers a chunk of television somewhat similar to the quasi-documentary series "The Real World" on MTV, a major difference being that, unlike the latter's adult participants, the kids of this new series were not recruited specifically for this enterprise. All of them, including "Nothing Sacred' When: 8 p.m. Satuidays Where: Channel 30 critics, if not exactly burned up the box office, in Europe and the U.S.

Now on "Nothing Sacred," Beals will play the; director of religious education hauled in' by the reformist Father Martin (played by David Marshall Grant) to replace the popular Sister Mau-M reen (Ann Dowd), (Dowd's role ji. being reduced because she is preg-, nant in real life.) i Because she is seen as loyal to the traditionalist Martin, Father Ray (Kevin Anderson) doesn't trust Justine; nor does anyone else on the St. Thomas staff. "My, character realize that she's replacing anybody," Talented Jennifer Beals joins 'Nothing Sacred' cast of the beauty of the ideal. Of course, part of what she has to grapple with is the collision of reality and the ideal." That would be one way to describe Beals herself.

Instead of cashing in on the sudden success of "Flashdance," she chose to fall off Hollywood's radar while finishing her education at Yale (she graduated with honors in 1987). Then, in-; stead of trying to get into another 1 megahit, Beals lived in New York-' for nine years and alternated be-'! tween small studio and independent "I realize this is an awful thing to say and from a business sense fool-', ish, but as an actor it doesn't ter to me so much how many people see it," Beals said of the movies she works on. "For me, the real joy; is doing it. I don't even watch my; own work, for the most part." By Aaron barnhart Knight Ridder Newspapers Jennifer Beals, whose film career has taken her from ripped sweatshirts to "Devil in a Blue Dress," rarely even tries on a TV script. So whatever compelled her to accept a regular part on the ABC drama "Nothing "Because it's about something," Beals says.

challenging for i the audience and for the actors. It I requires that you take some time to reflect, and that's exciting." Beals long ago left behind the spongy '80s camp of "Flashdance," the movie that catapulted her to fame at age 17, and now pursues serious roles more to her liking. 'Last year, she starred in "The Twi- light of the Golds" for Showtime, I about a young expecting mother who learns from genetic tests Phil4 MM Pm PJr, enuns in recent years nave wowea 'sirl. VI jtnnifo Seal will piay.Juctin..